...dedicated to...hmmm, we're still figuring that one out...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Catching Up Last week ended in a flurry of activity at school to the detriment of complete updates on this site. I missed a couple of good columns on Low End Mac in that time. Jeff Adkins continues his series on setting up and using iBooks in the classroom in his Mac Lab Report, Using an iBook Cart in the Classroom. This week Jeff tells many of the nuts and bolts issues to be considered with cart check out and teacher training. Previous reports include Configuring an iBook Cart, Part 1 and Configuring an iBook Cart, Part 2. Adam Robert Guha has put the spurs to Apple again in his Apple Archive column, Everything Is Not Easier on a Mac. Adam had stepped out from the Mac crowd in last week's column, Do I Miss My Mac? I think it's a pretty healthy sign when Mac users and columnists candidly write about where the Mac excels and where a PC is more appropriate. Pertinent Columns Timothy Egan, writing for The New York Times, had a good column last Friday about the quality of charter schools in Failures Raise Questions for Charter Schools (free registration required). James Traub presents a lengthy, but interesting commentary in this week's New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Test Mess (free registration required). Traub first describes what New York's testing means to and for some higher performing students and schools in New York, before going on to look at the national testing picture. He also gets into the "teaching the test" discussion in a big way. This is a really good read, but it also illustrates one of the problems of the web medium. The column is presented in six web pages and makes the reader wish he had a paper copy to take to the couch and read. An Associated Press posting on Yahoo News, Kennedy: Bush Shortchanges Education, says President Bush's education budget "amounts to a hollow promise because his budget fails to provide enough money to fund it."
Blufire Software has upgraded their freeware mental math skills game for Macintosh, GridX, to version 1.2. GridX is available in both PPC (661K) and Carbon (796K) versions. In GridX, players race the clock trying to fill a 1-100 number grid by applying any combination of the four basic operations to three numbers displayed. Laptops for "Backwash Elementary" I participated in an important meeting last Thursday with a couple of administrators and our school's technology coordinator, planning our purchases for an IDEA technology grant. It was one of those cool meetings where everyone came prepared and everyone was cooperating ("playing nice?") to achieve a common goal. While we'd previously participated in a little bloodletting over platform choice and proper use of special education funds, this time round everyone wanted to put the thing to bed, get an order in, and get on with implementing the grant. As a result, our elementary teachers will soon have access to two carts of wireless laptops aimed specifically at improving the kids' written composition skills. Written composition has been consistently identified through standardized testing as a weakness of our students, both regular and special ed. We decided to equip each our carts with a classroom-friendly number of computers. One cart will carry 24 PC wireless laptops with the other carrying 24 iBooks. We're also providing new computers equipped with touchscreen monitors for our elementary MiMH classes. At one point, we put our Apple Education representative on the speakerphone and spent half an hour making sure everything was going to work together properly. Jeff Hartman, our new Apple rep, came through like a champion, supplying a very competitive proposal along with good recommendations for both the Macs and PCs. The technology coordinator (formerly known here and in some columns as the "Evil NT Techie") and I didn't even have to put on our usual "good cop, bad cop" routine to get an acceptable proposal. Jeff had, of course, put together an initial proposal to spend most of the funds on Apple products, but the really great thing about this round of negotiating was that Jeff clearly understood and appropriately responded to our needs in supplying the information we needed and the pricing we had to have if we were to buy anything from Apple. Had he followed the usual practice of Apple Education in quoting educational list price for everything, we'd be purchasing two carts of PC laptops -- with my blessings!
We're still working on inservice training for our teachers and software. We already have decided to purchase voice recognition software, but are leaving a good chunk of cash from the grant available to the classroom teachers involved to select software most appropriate to their needs. We're also holding back a little emergency funding, in case we just blew it somewhere and have to order something to make it all work. This laptop grant is a major move for good ole Backwash Elementary (a name selected for school anonymity during the darker days of a previous administration). Just purchasing anything from Apple breaks a five year drought for the Mac users at school and could lead to some future purchases. While the execution of the grant began with acrimony, everyone has pulled together to get the best tools we could for our kids with the funding available. Everybody gave up something, but everyone wins with this outcome -- most of all, our kids! What are you going to do with all of those laptops? Actually, we're already doing "it" with a whole bunch of antique Macs in my classroom. The grant was written to acquire appropriate technology for special education students to improve their writing skills. The exact wording was:
When I clued the grant writer into what we were doing with computers during the grant writing phase, she came up with the program above that I'd never heard of before. We'd been using computer input, readback, spellchecking, and occasionally grammar checking, for some time on a small scale to improve student writing. The first year I taught special ed, I had two guys hammer an old LC III almost continually, basically teaching themselves to write. I just provided the tools and a little direction and then got out of their way. Three years ago I had a student that voice recognition software would have turned from a struggling writer into an accomplished one. Unfortunately, at that time neither the school nor I could provide the necessary technology. The money just wasn't there. Even though voice recognition software may be beyond most of my kids right now, it made sense to include it in the purchase for "the next time." Since all of the grant stuff began rattling around several months ago and with the addition of more working hours for my instructional assistant ("more hands"), we've been pushing writing more and more with our students in the learning disabilities resource room. We use both Modern Curriculum Press's Plaid Phonics and Steck-Vaughn Phonics with the kids. Each series has a writing page incorporated about every tenth page. Usually, the page is keyed from a story read on the previous page. When we now assign the writing page, we simply date the page and add the phrase, "On computer." The kids know that means they input their work, spell check it, use text-to-speech to listen to it, and then grab my assistant or I to go over what they've written. (BTW: We also use Educators Publishing Service's Primary Phonics with some of our younger set. You know, it's the old "Mac and Tab" series.) All of this has been going on before we even get our hands on the laptops for the program. The kids can't wait until the new iBooks arrive. Almost all of them got to work on the demo unit Apple had sent us last spring (Thanks to Apple Education's Mandy Monroe!). Believe it or not, I'm eager for their arrival as well. While I've posted some strong criticisms of the iBook here and in the columns Two Weeks with an iBook and Never mind. Apple Education probably is dead., Apple has corrected the keyboard and trackpad problems of the iBook. My most severe criticisms about pricing of the product unfortunately still apply. While our iBooks are a great deal, the comparable ThinkPads for the PC cart are going to run considerably less than the iBooks! Since I'm the primary implementer of the grant, our administration was gracious enough to allow me to chose iBooks which run an OS with which I'm comfortable. While I'd love to keep the iBooks in near constant use in my classroom, the whole idea of putting the things on a cart is so that several classrooms may share them. The possibilities for use for both carts of laptops are limitless for our incredibly talented teaching staff. One of my jobs as a special educator is to do student observations in various classrooms before placement conferences. I'm in almost every elementary classroom every year and almost always come away with something uplifting or a new idea to try. Turning these folks loose with wireless laptops should be interesting. OS Decisions
Holes One big hole in our laptop strategy remains to be plugged. While my kids are growing in touch typing, we really don't have a typing program in place. Although some of our classroom computers carry the old Mario Teaches Typing or Al Bunny's Typing Class, we still need a good typing program that is effective with elementary students. We don't have enough hands or hours to add touch typing to our curriculum, although we should. If you've got any suggestions, please share them with me. Site News I finally got an email client configured properly so that the mathdittos2.com mail accounts are working without having to use a browser-based email client to clear them. I still can't send email through that domain, but that's not its main use. I'm also still transferring some of the many downloadable files over from the old server to the new one. Many of the MATH DITTOS 2 downloadables run over 2 MB with separate versions for Mac and Windows, so I have a lot of files and megabytes to move. After a false start at ordering a new G4 minitower, flat-panel display, etc., I've decided to stay with my old G3 minitower for the time being. Actually, I've decided to keep using my old upgraded Power Mac 7500 until the necessary parts arrive to get it the minitower back up and running. The downside of that is that I now lack an OS X equipped machine on which to test software releases. I also left the Orange Micro PC card out of the 7500 setup this time, which slows testing of PC downloads as I must copy them to a zip disk and transfer them to one of our PCs here at home. The expiration of Apple's previous display promo and the introduction of a new one to me simply equaled a $100 price increase that I'm not willing to pay. While other computer manufacturers are following Apple's lead in increasing prices, they've already cut their profit margins. Apple's latest round of price increases of the new flat-panel iMac and the watering down of their promo for freestanding flat-panels sold with a G4 again places Apple in the position of forgoing marketshare increases to protect a fat profit margin. To remain viable, Apple has to remain profitable, but insisting on profit margins well beyond its competitors may push it's marketshare beyond being that of just being a niche player into the realm of computer irrelevancy. Ad Update 123Injets.com finally woke up when I advised them I'd pulled all their ads and further threatened to cancel the credit card charge and emailed me that my order had been backordered and was being shipped immediately. It arrived in good shape on Saturday. While I can't say much for their customer service, they do seem to have the best prices around on ink cartridges. Their reason of being "in the process of relocating our offices and completely renovating our systems" sounds reasonable. I've returned their ads to this site, but must add that potential buyers should keep close track of their orders with them. Software Note When I was messing around, hoping to order a G4 Mac, I thought I'd opt for the Adobe special that includes Photoshop. Since giving up on that idea last weekend, I placed a quick order with the Academic Superstore
The installer CD is a Mac-Win hybrid, so you can pick your platform(s) for one price. If you can't take advantage of academic pricing, Computers4Sure carries Photoshop Elements 1.0 I think I'm really going to enjoy Elements. (Of course, I did the final prep for posting of these photos with GraphicConverter.:-) If you have suggestions, news ideas, etc., please . |
Ah, yes, about the iBooks...there will be 23 500MHz iBooks configured with 256MB RAM, an Airport card, and the standard three-year AppleCare agreement. One iBook will be the 600MHz model with the Combo (CD-RW) drive. I'd have loved to specify the 600MHz iBook for all of the iBooks, but the Evil...oops, technology coordinator had a very competitive proposal on some IBM ThinkPads. We'll be adding some kind of desktop Mac along the way to run Apple Remote Desktop. I'm pushing for a G4 OS X Server, but we may end up with an economy iMac to do the job. At any rate, the technology coordinator will be regularly using at least one modern Macintosh. (Snicker...It's sorta like, "The first hit is free.")
One of the items still to be decided is what Mac OS the iBooks will boot. I'm still a real rookie on Mac OS X, although our technology coordinator has some good experience with UNIX. I'm also not very swift with Multiple Users, although I got really good at hacking and using its predecessor, At Ease, in our now departed 
|
Hey! We could have told them that! The recent National Education Association's Rankings and Estimates Report (826K PDF document) reveals:
The NEA news release, U.S. Teachers' Salaries Fall Below Economic Trends, published Monday quotes NEA President, Bob Chase, as saying:
Attaboy, Bob. But do you think anyone outside of education is listening or really cares? Other Pertinent Columns An Associated Press posting, School Budgets Cut by Billions, tells how cuts at the state level are crippling areas of education all across the nation. What caught my eye was the coverage of Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon's education cuts since our enlightened legislature did nothing to resolve the state's monetary crisis. Washington Post Staff Writer David S. Broder reports Education Reform Controversy Lingers. Broder notes that when regulations were written last month for "President Bush's landmark reform plan," a number of key players were left out, including the nation's largest teachers' union, the NEA, and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), which represents some 14,000 superintendents and other educational leaders. AASA Executive Director Paul D. Houston commented, "They only wanted people who agreed with them. If you weren't a cheerleader, they didn't want you there." Guess that's why I wasn't invited:-). Software Updates and Introductions Hmmm..... SchwabLearning.org Updates New items this week on the SchwabLearning.org site include: Links to all of the new and updated SchwabLearning.org articles are available in the Schwab Learning Online Newsletter (link expires 4-15-02). CEC Launches New Site The Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD) of the Council for Exceptional Children has launched a new web site for teachers, TeachingLD. While there is some free content available, much of the site requires a paid DLD membership, in addition to CEC membership. Devotion For April 7-13, 2002 Zach Wood's weekly devotional for this week is Ready or Not. I hope it adds a bit of brightness to your week. Zach also maintains an archive of previous devotionals. Pertinent Columns Richard Rothstein debunks a study by the Education Trust in his latest Lessons column, Schools, Accountability and a Sheaf of Fuzzy Math (free registration required). The Trust study suggested "that simply by adopting higher standards, schools can get disadvantaged children to perform as well as those of the middle class." Rothstein points out, "It is actually all three -- instructional overhaul, more school spending and social change -- that will be needed." The Philadelphia Inquirer's Susan Snyder and Martha Woodal report 75 schools targeted for possible overhaul. According to the Inquirer article, all of the 75 schools are elementary schools falling into the category of the "district's low-performing schools." Possible options include the "privatization model, which could allow an outside firm to take over, bring in its own staff and principal, and honor union contracts - or not...charter schools; independent schools; reconstituted schools, which would entail the breakup of the teaching staff; and provider-managed schools, which would involve outside management but not place it in charge." Software Updates Jay Lichtenauer of MacinMind Software has updated two of his excellent Macintosh sharewares. Jay's typing tutor, Master Key, has been updated to version 2.1. Master Spell has reached version 4.5. Master Key is "a straightforward typing tutor program written with the Mac in mind" that works well on school AppleShare networks. "Master Spell administers spelling drills using the Mac's Plaintalk Text-to-Speech" and has a long line of features. Followup In response to my request for information about effective typing programs for elementary students, Eddie Chang suggested I try some of the free online tutorials available. Once I get my system fully up and running again, I think I will do a thorough search. Alan Zisman wrote to tell me "At Maquinna Elementary, in Vancouver (BC Canada), we've been using All the Right Type for the past 4 years with grades 4 through 7." Alan included an email contact address and even wrote Ingenuity Works about my situation. They're sending a 30 preview version of All the Right Type 3.0 to my school for evaluation. G3 I finally gave up ordering parts for my G3 minitower and just bought a whole unit! I'm hurrying to finish and post this update so I can put my old G3 back online. Have a great weekend! Ads shown on this site do not represent an endorsement or warranty of any kind of products or companies shown.
Ads shown on this site do not represent an endorsement or warranty of any kind of products or companies shown. Ads shown on archive pages may not represent the ads displayed in the original posting on Educators' News. |
|
| Previous Week |
|
|
|
|
|
|